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Prepping For Fall (Part Three)

(This is part 3 of a 4-part series—Prepping For Fall. For part-one click here and for part-two click here.) (This is a photo heavy post.)

August 14, 2016

I’m ready for some of these!

In this third post of shopping my favorite sale, I’ll share what happened when I shopped both online and in the store. During this sale I was shopping for 2 wardrobe capsules, my Business Capsule and my Fall/Winter Capsule, which is the capsule that I will sport on a daily basis. Before I show you what I got, first let’s review my entire shopping list:

For the Business Capsule (7 items):

Full length black trouser

Pointy toe flat shoe

Replacement for the black patent pumps with a heel

Long Sleeve-Blouse for one of the blazers

Three short sleeve tops for the blazers for warmer months

Knit for black blazer

Knit/Sweater/Cardigan for a third outfit

For the Fall/Winter Capsule (10 items):

Knit/Top for Brown Suede Jacket x2

Printed or Striped LS T for Tan Sweatercoat x2

Fun Blazer for Jeans

Knit for Tall Tan Boots

Knit for Over The Knee (OTK) Black Boots

Knit/Tops for Cowboy Boots x2

Wildcard Outfit

I also had my yearly replacement sale items (lingerie wash, bras, underwear and towels x3), bringing the final total of my shopping list to 23 items. Now onto my favorite part, the shopping!

My online order consisted of a whopping 35 items. Why so many? The reasons are always the same, multiple sizes, multiple colors, and challenging fit items, especially business clothing. Here’s what came in the mail.

First Delivery-The first 5.

Second Delivery-Another 9.

Third Delivery-Another 16.

Fourth Delivery-The Final 5.

With so many packages, there was plenty of things to return to the store. The danger with returning items in person, is that you have to go to the store, and this opens up the potential to purchase things I did not already order. I am not immune to in store temptation and ended up coming home with my yearly replacement sale items (bras and underwear not shown) as well as some “extra items.”

Some of the yearly replacement stuff.

Why did I purchase dresses when I never wear them?

Once at home, with my entire wardrobe before me, I could analyze each item to see if they were a keeper, or something to be returned. To help me decide, items had to meet the following 4-step criteria:

Is it on my shopping list? Yes, move to the next step, no, return pile.

Does it fit my body today? Yes, move to the next step, no, return pile.

Does it mix with anything in my current wardrobe? Yes, move to the next step, no, return pile.

I was able to pare down the 39 items (35 ordered online and 4 in person [I forgot to include the handbag in the dress photo above]) to a final lucky 13.

Keepers-The final lucky 13 pieces I kept.

I walked away from my favorite sale, with about half of my shopping list complete. It’s always nice to shop with a plan, but to keep it from being only utilitarian, one has to allow for a little flexibility, as you’ll see with my purchases. But first, a run-down of what items from my shopping list I completed. If you look at the left side of the photo above, you’ll see that I was able to complete three of the items for my Business Capsule Shopping List.

Business Capsule (7 items):

Full length black trouser-Complete

Pointy toe flat shoe-Incomplete

Replacement for the black patent pumps with a heel-Complete (selected a wedge)

Long Sleeve-Blouse for one of the blazers-Incomplete

Three short sleeve tops for the blazers for warmer months-Incomplete

Knit for black blazer-Incomplete

Knit/Sweater/Cardigan for a third outfit-Complete with a bonus

The “bonus” designation is because I decided on a blazer instead of a knit/sweater/cardigan as a third topper option for this capsule. The blazer is a bonus item because it also meets a need from my fall/winter capsule. The blazer pairs just as well with my black trousers as it does with my over the knee (OTK) boots and jeans.

Black blazer with OTK boots and jeans.

Fall/Winter Capsule (10 items):

Knit/Top for Brown Suede Jacket x2-Incomplete

Printed or Striped LS T for Tan Sweatercoat x2-Incomplete

Fun Blazer for Jeans-Complete with a bonus (blazer works for business capsule and OTK boots)

Knit for Tall Tan Boots-Complete (green thermal with shirt tail hem)

Knit for Over The Knee (OTK) Black Boots-Complete (used a blazer from business capsule instead for OTK boots, added knit for tall black boots instead)

With the blazer working double duty for both capsules, here’s how the rest of my new stuff meets my needs.

Completed outfits by adding 4 new tops.

The photo above shows using items #4 to #6 on the shopping list with completed outfits. The great thing about all of these pieces is that they will easily remix with any of my boots. The knee high black boots I forgot about during my planning, but anything that works with the OTK boots, will also work with these. The jacket is from my outerwear collection, and works well as a topper for my cowboy boots. The extra knitwear on the far right, is from my Spring/Summer capsule wardrobe, but will work well with the boots as well.

Bonus outfit x2.

The bonus outfit is actually 2 outfits, by adding a second top. I surprised myself with purchasing a pair of jeans, after all I recently did a purge of my jeans. But these jeans are similar to a pair of cropped white boyfriend jeans I’ve worn all summer long, a style I’ve really enjoyed and want to extend into fall. The taupe wedge short boots were an unexpected purchase (after all I have plenty of boots), but they help to lighten my outfits which is something I am always trying to do, considering that I am fair skinned and have blonde hair. The 2 tops remix easily with all of my old boots too.

Bonus outfit seamlessly fitting into my old stuff.

Finally, there were a couple of extra items that managed to sneak in, a pair of sandal booties and a matching colored bag.

Two extra additions.

While these two extra additions will be added to my Spring/Summer capsule wardrobe, they help me bridge my bonus outfit so that I can start wearing items now, as I enter the transitional period from the summer to the fall season.

Bonus outfit with the 2 extra items for the transition period.

For the fourth and final post of this series, I’ll perform some number crunching and review what my Fall/Winter capsule wardrobe is starting with for the upcoming fall season.

As a side note, I’ve just shown how I am able to use 2 extra items to start wearing my bonus outfit now. I’m thinking about a future post that shows how I plan to transition my current Spring/Summer wardrobe to early fall. If this is something you are interested in reading about, leave a comment below!

And finally, if you were wondering what happened to the dresses I purchased during my in store returns, well, I returned them. If you’ve been following Shopping Brake for a while, then you already know that I am not a dress gal. I was attracted to the pretty colors of the dresses, but as soon as they came home I was reminded of why I don’t wear dresses. I would need proper footwear, and proper outerwear, and proper layering pieces, for the 2 dresses to work with my wardrobe and fashion preferences. That would be a lot of wardrobe additions which is something I don’t want to do at this time. Plus, I already added 2 bonus outfits. So despite the great fit and gorgeous colors of the 2 dresses, back to the store they went.